Attackers wound senior Burundi army officer - witnesses

NAIROBI, Nov 29 (Reuters) - A senior army officer was
wounded in an attack by unidentified gunmen in Burundi at the
weekend on his way to the capital, witnesses said on Sunday, the
latest in a series of shootings targeting top officials.

Violence has racked the African nation for months since
President Pierre Nkurunziza said he would run for a third term
in office and then went on to win a disputed election in July.

The capital Bujumbura and surrounding area has been the
focus for a spate of shootings and assassination attempts.
Western powers and African neighbours worry Burundi, which
emerged from a civil war in 2005, could slide back into ethnic
conflict.

In the latest incident late on Saturday, Colonel Serges
Kabanyura, the military commander for one of five regions of
Burundi who previously served in a brigade protecting the
president, was injured with five soldiers, a soldier who
witnessed the attack told Reuters.

"About five persons armed with rifles and dressed in
military uniforms stopped us while heading to Bujumbura city.
When they saw that we were soldiers they shot at us injuring
five of us and, as we shot back, they fled," said the soldier,
speaking from hospital in Bujumbura.

Two other soldiers from the scene gave similar accounts.

The army spokesman could not be reached for comment.

On Friday, attackers shot at a lawmaker from the ruling
party as he drove to parliament, killing one police officer and
wounding others.

Till now, rival camps have broadly divided along political
lines, but experts say the longer the crisis continues the more
chance old ethnic rifts will emerge.

The 12-year civil war pitted rebel groups of the Hutu
majority against the army which was at the time led by the Tutsi
minority. Nkurunziza led one of the main Hutu rebel groups.